32 tips for more effective social media marketing

Social media can be a powerful and effective marketing tool for your business – if you use it right. That goes whether you’re a B2C or B2B, and there are loads of organisations out there who are using it to great effect. So what’s their secret?

If you want to take your social media up a gear, or you just want to check you’ve got everything covered, then this blog is for you. To inspire you and ensure you’re making the maximum impact, we’ve trawled the web and pulled together some of the best social media marketing tips and tricks we could find.

From simple steps you can take for some quick wins, to changes you could consider making to your broader processes, we’ve got it all covered, including some top tips specifically aimed at B2Bs. Enjoy.

1. Make sharing easy on your website:

Have sharing buttons to encourage and make it easy for people to share your content across social networks

If images play a big role in your content, then make it easy to share them on sites like Pinterest

Find those who share blog posts within your space and start building a relationship with them, that way they may start sharing your content too

5. Don’t build on rented land, only your own domain is yours. Keep it as a hub and see all social platforms as outposts to help you increase your reach and audience

6. Always have in mind that your main goal is to build your email list

7. On social media platforms remember engagement is more important than your number of followers

8. Develop different content for different channels and treat each channel individually. Mix content across channels, don’t just send out the same content on all of them

9. Find and share content from other sources and tag in those sources

10. Keep your content entertaining or inspirational as that’s how you’re going to get traction

11. Go above and beyond in customer service on your social sites. Show people what it’s like to be a customer, how you treat customers and the speed with which you respond

12. Automate the mechanics but always be personal in your conversations, no-one wants to interact with a robot. Social is about being social, so have personality

13. Always be super helpful

14. Find and engage in relevant social groups and forums

15. Don’t aim to create the next big viral campaign, ask yourself if it really needs to be. If it’s good, authentic and relevant then it will happen naturally, you can’t force it.

16. Don’t worry about repeating posts, it is necessary to gain traffic, but be aware of how much you are repeating on which network

17. Run an outreach campaign – write a post mentioning other interesting and relevant people then contact them about your post and show them what you’ve done

18. Well thought out sweepstakes can work well

19. On Instagram, take advantage of the link in your profile as it’s the only live link you have. Make sure it directs people to a specific page on your website with a specific offer, not just to the general website homepage

20. Use any tools that will help you do the job and be more effective. Here are a few recommendations to get you started: